Disney After Dark (11 page)

Silence.

“Comments?” Wayne asked, reminding Finn of an English teacher.

“Be careful what you wish for. That’s the theme, isn’t it?” Maybeck asked.

Finn said, “It also says to be satisfied with who you are.

“Not to mention that no matter how strong you think you are, there’s always something stronger,” Willa contributed.

Philby said, “So it’s about power. It’s a study of power.”

“Walt told me that story,” Wayne explained, “and then said something I will never forget. He said, ‘I have plans for this place that should put things in perspective, Wayne.’ And there was this twinkle in his eye. There was something more to it than he was letting on. At least that’s been my opinion all these years.”

“But what?” Finn asked.

Wayne shrugged. He repeated: “I have plans for this place that should put things in perspective.”

“And we’re supposed to figure out why he called it ‘The Stonecutter’s Quill’?” Willa asked.

“Yes, it’s up to the five of you to solve the fable. Others have tried before you, myself included, but to no avail. As matters grew more urgent, we came up with the idea of the DHIs. You have one foot in the character world, one in the real. We need not only to solve whatever the fable is supposed to tell us, but we need to apprehend and stop the Overtakers responsible for our recent problems.”

“And we’re the chosen ones,” Maybeck said skeptically.

“Indeed, you are. Very carefully chosen, at that: intelligence, athleticism, artistry, computer knowledge.”

“What if we don’t want to be chosen?” Willa asked.

Finn answered. “There’s not much choice. We’re going to cross over when we go to sleep.”

“But that must be your doing,” Willa said to Wayne accusingly.

The old man looked back impassively. For a moment it seemed he might refuse to answer.

The old man looked back impassively. For a moment it seemed he might refuse to answer.

Then he said, “It’s out of my hands now.” He raised his arms dramatically. “I’ve waited a long time to tell that story to you.

Willa spoke, “What are we up against?”

Wayne said, “You know how you can sometimes sense a storm before it ever rains? You can almost smell it? Whatever is happening to this place is like that: we know it’s coming. Bad things have been happening, but worse things are on their way. We’re powerless to do anything about them. You are not. You five can change it.”

Maybeck snorted.

Philby, deep in thought, complained. “What if there isn’t enough time?”

He won Wayne’s attention.

Finn explained, “This afternoon we all…kind of fainted. All of us. Right at the same time, and all in completely different locations.”

Wayne’s face wrinkled in concern. He considered this carefully and said, “Was this sometime after two o’clock?”

Finn gasped. “How would you know that?”

“The DHIs here in the park—they went down for a few minutes this afternoon. Something to do with the computer server. Maybeck?”

Maybeck shied from the summons.

“That’s right,” Philby said, remembering. “You’re a computer freak, aren’t you, Maybeck?”

“Freak? I’m freaking good with them, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Finn speculated, “If we’re able to cross over at night—and we certainly are, then maybe if something happens to the DHIs during the day, it also happens to us.”

Wayne said, “I think you’d better hurry.” He pursed his lips and looked each of them in the eyes before saying, “Once the Overtakers realize you intend to help us—that you’re here to stop them—I believe they’ll do whatever they can to stop you first. Maybe your fainting is the result of their dark powers. If they can stop you from crossing over, we’re defeated. Fear is one way to stop you.” He paused a moment and said, “This is new ground for
all
of us.”

Finn felt a chill run up his spine.

Still deep in concentration, Philby said, “Walt was an artist. An animator. He drew things. You draw things with pencils and pens.
Quills.
”

“Yes,” Wayne agreed. “We got that far as well.”

“So the solution to the fable has something to do with that,” Philby said. “A pen. A pencil. A quill.”

Wayne nodded. “Just as we’ve thought these many years. But what it is exactly, and where to find it? We have no idea.”

Willa had her own concerns. “What do you mean by ‘dark powers’? Some kind of magic?”

“What puts us in a bad mood when just a minute before we felt so good?” Wayne asked.

“What makes us afraid of the dark when we know perfectly well there’s nothing bad out there?

What explains that sometimes we think of a person and two seconds later the phone rings, and it’s that same person calling us?” Again, Wayne looked at the kids one by one, his face deadly serious. “Not all such forces have to do with hats and rabbits. There are forces bigger than all of us. Good, and bad.”

Wayne reached toward the wall. “Good luck,” he said as he pushed a circular metal plate embossed with a silhouette of Mickey Mouse. A panel in the floor opened up beneath him. Wayne fell through and disappeared.

Finn jumped up, ahead of the others. The floor was solid again. Wayne was gone.

Sitting on the coffee table in the center of the room was what looked like a small black garage-door opener with a single red button.

Wayne had used it to send him back to his bed on his earlier visits. Finn pointed it out for the others to see. “Well, I guess that’s it. So who’s in? Who’s up for solving the Stonecutter fable?”

One by one, the other DHIs tentatively lifted their hands. They had accepted Wayne’s challenge.

He said, “Philby and Willa will work to connect the fable to the Magic Kingdom. There has to be something we’re supposed to
do
with the story. Maybeck will find out as much as he can about the DHI servers and what we might do to protect them, to protect us. Charlene and I will study up on Walt Disney—why he might have picked the Stonecutter’s fable, what’s with the quill, and anything else we can find out. Sound okay?”

No one disagreed. Finn was the acknowledged leader.

Finn said, “I doubt this button is going to cross over with me. It’ll remain here.”

Maybeck said, “My guess is, it’s a proximity thing, like the dialogue bubbles in VMK. You have to be near it when it’s pushed in order to go back. So if you’re ever in trouble, get up here to this room and push this button.”

“Okay?”

Everyone nodded.

Finn indicated the black fob with the red button. They all gathered close together.

Maybeck said, “It might be smart to hold hands.”

The kids looked anxiously and apprehensively among themselves.

Finn said, “It wouldn’t be good to get left behind.”

They grabbed each other’s hands immediately, forming a circle. Willa took Finn’s right forearm, freeing his hand to reach down and press the button.

The world went dark.

13

T
hen folowing night, the five DHIs gathered near the Riverboat Cruise as the first rumblings of a thunderstorm echoed like faraway drums in the distance. The approaching clouds drew a veil across the night sky. The river’s black water swirled and lapped lazily at the riverbank. Wayne had mentioned the Indian Encampment as a safe location, and this had led the DHIs to meet here.

The cluster of extremely realistic-looking teepees sat atop a rise, overlooking Tom Sawyer Island. The encampment included a dozen human-size models of Native Americans doing a day’s work: chopping wood, tending a fire. At the fake campfire, an old Native American woman squatted while she cooked.

As Finn led the DHIs inside the first of the teepees, they all disappeared. Charlene gasped aloud. “We’re…”

“Invisible,” Maybeck answered. “Our holograms are not projected inside the teepees.

Basically, we’re in a kind of hologram-projection shadow here.”

Finn said, “That’s got to be why Wayne suggested it. It’s the perfect hiding place.”

“Our holograms apparently have been programmed to project inside most attractions,”

Maybeck said.

Philby said, “The plan was to have us guide guests onto the rides at some point. Still is. Sit there with them and explain the history of the attraction. That producer Brad told me about it when we were all at MGM.”

Finn said, “But here, we’re safe.”

The small space was crowded with the five of them. Maybeck’s crossed legs—and
only
his legs—showed because they were near the teepee’s open door. A part of Charlene’s left knee showed as well.

“This is too weird,” said an invisible Willa.

Maybeck raised and lowered his arm into the light that came through the door, making his hand appear and disappear. He said, “It’s like cell phone reception in a tunnel.”

“Let’s not forget,” Philby pointed out in a whisper, “that though we may be invisible, we can hear each other. That means we can also
be heard.
”

“Good point,” Willa whispered back.

Finn also spoke quietly. “So, where are we? Willa? Philby?”

Philby said, “The Stonecutter fable is supposed to lead us to a quill: maybe a special pen or pencil; maybe something used by Walt Disney a long time ago. Our clues are: sun, cloud, wind, and stone. As Wayne said, they’re found all over in the park.”

“The attractions,” Willa said. “Walt knew they would stay behind long after he was gone.”

Philby said, “Rides dealing with sun, clouds, wind, and stone.”

“We’re working on which attractions have to do with each clue,” Willa said.

Finn pointed out, “But Walt died before the park was ever open, didn’t he? So he wouldn’t have known what attractions would end up getting built. Not all of them, anyway. Maybe we’re supposed to try to solve this in Disneyland, not here.”

Willa said, “But he had dozens of loyal people working for him. His brother. His nephew. He could have passed his wishes along to any one of them.”

Philby added, “And Wayne worked here, in Disney World. Walt told the fable to Wayne, and no one else.”

“That we know of,” Willa reminded.

“The answers are here,” Philby said convincingly. “We just have to put it all together.”

Finn asked Maybeck if he’d found out anything about the DHI servers. Any clue as to why they all fainted at the same time. “Was Wayne right about that?”

“You remember we had to sign those releases
before
they started turning us into DHIs?”

Maybeck replied. “Some of these imaging techniques have never been tried before. That’s what makes it look so cool, right? It’s, like, totally new stuff. The DHI servers clearly control our holograms, but why they could affect us as humans is really weird. In crossing back over we must take something of our DHIs with us. We don’t see it, we don’t feel it, but it’s there. That might explain how messing with the servers made us feel faint. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not real keen on someone else controlling me. I’m not loving that idea. I think the time will come when we’d rather have control of the servers ourselves. So that’s what I’m working on.”

Murmurs rippled through the group. No one objected to the idea of gaining self-control.

“The Fall Games are tomorrow,” Charlene said. “Is everyone here going?”

They realized they would all be there, participating in various sports.

“That gives us a chance to meet again,” Finn said. “Let’s meet by the snack bar before any of the sports get going.”

“Psst!” Maybeck’s arm appeared briefly as he reached across the doorway and pulled Charlene’s knee back inside. In the shadow her leg became invisible.

Finn then heard what Maybeck had heard: the sound of footsteps, the crunching of gravel.

Nearby. Security guards? At the same time, he felt a sudden draft, like when he stepped into an air-conditioned room. He shivered.

“I feel you…” It was a woman’s hoarse whisper, raspy and dry, as if she had sand in her throat. Gooseflesh rippled up Finn’s arms and down his spine. He was
freezing
now. “You don’t belong here. Go away.”

The sound of footsteps moved slowly away from their teepee, and continued on to the next.

Finn held his breath. The sound stopped, and then headed back toward them.

Inside the teepee came a soft shuffling sound as the invisible Maybeck and Charlene moved farther away from the door.

“I feel you,” came that awful voice again. “You can’t hide from me.”

It wasn’t just any woman’s voice. Finn had heard that voice before. But how was that possible?

The footfalls circled the teepee and came around front again. Two legs appeared, with black stockings that ended at low-heeled, shiny black shoes. An invisible Willa reached over and found Finn’s hand and clutched it tightly. Hers was warm and clammy.

The black-stockinged legs bent as a hand appeared in the teepee’s doorway.

A green hand. The hand emerged from the end of a long black sleeve. Green as a lizard, the knuckles bent and bumpy, the nails as long as claws. Charlene gasped aloud. Too loud.

The air grew colder still. The woman bent over fully and peered into the dark teepee. She wore a robelike black dress with jagged purple fringe and a purple stripe running up the middle—